Study: Apple Maps Took Around 80% of Google Maps' iOS Traffic

Apple Maps has had a rough time in the publicity department, starting with a less-than-stellar debut least year and culminating in recent stories about passengers following erroneous directions onto Alaskan runways. But according to data from comScore and The Guardian (via 9to5 Mac), Apple Maps is doing just fine for itself. It's doing so well, in fact, that 35 million iPhone owners in the U.S. use it as of last September, compared to the six million iPhone owners who use Google Maps.

As MacRumors notes, neither Apple nor Google make such information public, which calls into question the accuracy of the actual numbers cited in the research. Still, if they at least resemble the truth, then that means that Apple Maps has largely succeeded despite such a rocky start.

There's a reason why these numbers might be so heavily skewed, of course. Apple Maps is now the default navigation program on iPhone, and most of the time it works well enough that users probably don't feel pressured to look for another map program. Smart move. According to comScore's data, Apple's decision to make Apple Maps the default mapping program for iPhone caused Google Maps' share to plummet from 81.1 total mobile users in the U.S. last year to 58.7 million this year.

For a percentage, the 35 million iPhone owners mentioned above means that a full 58 percent of iPhone users use Apple Maps. But even comScore noted that its popularity in the United States might have to do with its relative accuracy here. In other regions, including Europe, Apple Maps is said to come nowhere near to Google's map program in terms of accuracy.